The historic Orpheum Theater, home to EA's E3 2009 keynote [photo]
And we're officially live inside of the "historic" Los Angeles Orpheum theater where a line is straight stretchin' around the block! Valve's already announced Left 4 Dead 2 so it remains to be seen what hot scoops are comin' up. Won't you join us after the break for all the full liveblog?(Note: All timestamps are Pacific Time)
3:17PM Riccitiello is back to wrap things up ... "So, that's our show." We're outta here! Thanks for following along.
3:15PM Ray is hyping "the fourth pillar" -- story -- and now rolling the first cinematic trailer (cosplay is leaving the stage) ... Jedis vs. Vader lookalikes (bionic-clad Sith, it looks like). The age-old green sabers vs. red sabers battle. Evil Sith guy wins. *Ruckus applause*
3:11PM Star Wars The Old Repulic it is. "The first ever, fully-voiced massively multiplayer game" it will be. (Okay, quitting Yoda voice.) The game will feature hundreds of thousands of lines of dialogue and thousands of speaking characters.
3:09PM (Wannabe) Jedis are pouring out of every entrance and onto the stage. Two pull of their hoods ... it's Ray form BioWare and a designer from LucasArts!
3:08PM Okay, everything jsut went dark -- Star Wars them is pumping!
3:06PM EA is announcing a new EA Partner ... Realtime Worlds. Dave Jones, the founder, is now on stage and introducing APB, a 100-player MMO. Cue the trailer.
3:03PM Cevat Yerli, CEO of Crytek, is on stage now. Crysis 2 is being announced (though we already shared that with you earlier this morning).
3:01PM Now Jack Black's second "Brutal Thoughts" video is rolling. He's "wired" an Xbox 360 controller in his brain (not really) becoming the "HUMAN VIDEO GAME." Tim's controlling the gamepad, trying to talk Jack out of it ... oops, too late. Jack's brain is fried. *Laughs*
2:59PM A new teaser trailer showcases the variety of star power in the game -- Rob Halford, Jack Black, Lemmy, Lita Ford, and of course, Ozzy Osbourne!
2:57PM According to Schafer, Lemmy's character "The Kill Master" can play the bass so well it can "heal the wounded."
2:55PM Riccitiello's introducing "one of his favorite people in the industry," Tim Schafer.
2:54PM It's a stealth open-world game set in Paris. The demo shows the main character stealing a Nazi officer's uniform (from the officer) and then planting some explosives. *BOOM* Game turns all-out action. He runs and jacks a car, hits a lamp post, and then hides out ... in a brothel. It's GTA in WWII Paris -- huzzah!
2:51PM The Saboteur is up next, well, its lead designer. He rolls a trailer and now fires up a gameplay demo. Showing off "the Will to Fight" effect -- the environment is black and white until you bring color back (by defeating the Nazis, duh).
2:47PM Sampras scores! Moore: "How does this compare to the real Wimbledon?" Sampras: "This is easier!"
2:45PM Time to show off another new EA title, EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis. Moore's playing live and the game looks a bit ... dated. He's talking a TON of smack. Pete Sampras is showing up -- in real life! -- watching over Moore control a Sampras avatar in-game.
2:43PM Announcement two! The first expansion pack for EA Sports Active is coming "this holiday, just in time to help you with your New Year's resolutions."
2:42PM TV Host/TV Star (and "Ms. Size 4") Allison Sweeney is now gabbing with Moore. She's got nothing but positivity for EA Sports Active. She's just got off of the 30 day challenge.
2:41PM Moore is back on stage, talking EA Sports Active and calling response "overwhelming." "I'm not sure there's a product I've been more proud to be a part of than this." Now a video is rolling with 30-something woman talking about fitting into a "Size 4" -- uh, not sure we're the right demographic here...
2:38PM Madden NFL 10 online franchise gets a trailer, and it's laden with hilarious social networking jokes. Raucous applause from the crowd. Apparently, it's in the game?
2:37PM Chiang is unveiling "Team Builder," a web-based app for NCAA where you, uh, build your team: customize stadium, play dress-up, and set play styles. "Create yourself ... and relieve your glory days on the field" (Yeah, our glory days). Team Builder is available RIGHT NOW on teambuilder.easports.com.
2:35PM Steve Chiang, SVP and Group GM, taking the stage and plugging Tiger Online -- "no added peripherals" (yuck, yuck).
2:34PM "In the past year, over 500 million games have been played on the EA Sports servers." Is that a lot? We need some context, Mr. Moore. Looks like we're about to get it.
2:33PM Finally, an announcement! EA Sports: MMA -- a mixed martial arts game. Tattoo joke in tow. He can't help himself, folks.
2:32PM Fight Night Round 4 launching a week early on June 25th.
2:31PM In fairness, Moore is grilling the folks working on Round 4. Highlighting the gameplay differences from Round 3 -- a dynamic physics engine, for instance.
2:29PM We're about to get a live demo of the game, but, um, we already played the demo ourselves on Xbox Live.
2:28PM First up: Fight Night Round 4. Wait. isn't that game out kinda soon?
2:28PM And now, everyone, Peter Moore!
2:27PM EA Sports is up next with a pretty hilarious live-action trailer. Real people -- with controllers -- winning major sports championships.
2:26PM Mass Effect 2 on Xbox 360 and PC "early next year" (give us more than that guys!). Okay, trailer is starting up ... extended version of the previous trailer with Nine Inch Nails pumping in the background.
2:24PM Ray and Greg are back and introducing Mass Effect 2. They're filling in the backstory -- back and forth -- like they share one brain (or just a teleprompter).
2:24PM A new Dragon Age Origins trailer -- with a sex scene interwoven! -- is up now. Tons of heavy industrial music and blood. We like!
2:22PM Bioware's Ray and Greg roll out to some thumping techno. Dragon Ages will be shown for first time on consoles at E3. "Darkest and most mature game ever" with violence and lust! The game will "shock" your notion of fantasy. Shipping for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 on October 20. New in-game footage rolling...
2:21PM And ... crash! The demo ends at the business end of a guard rail. EA's giving away a BMW M3 at E3. Can haz?
2:19PM Alright, video's back. Shift's going to shape your "driver profile" around the way you drive in the game. In so many words, it's a system of leveling up made for a racing game. And now, some gameplay! Looks ... a lot like a racing game. It is purty though.
2:16PM Cockpit view is the focus of NFS: Shift. It gives Soderlund "the same feel as being on a racetrack."
2:15PM Okay ... the madness has ended. Need For Speed Shift is up next...
2:15PM Uh-oh, it's getting worse ... Dyan Williams, Senior Producer of "EA Girls," takes the stage with four little ones. Announces: "Games that celebrate what's great about being a girl." Girls are about to play a game called "Speed Hair Teasing" -- no joke! -- a mini-game in "Pajama Party" for Wii.
2:12PM Trailer is rolling ... Littlest PetShop Online. Is this happening? This is how EA is kicking off the press conference?
2:12PM It looks like Littlest Pet Shop's going online in -- wait for it! -- Little Pet Shop Online. We're about to see the trailer but Chip Lange's giving Little Pet Shop Online a Fall release.
2:11PM Chip Lange, EA's GM for Hasbro division, takes the stage -- talking 9-year-old daughter and Littlest Pet Shop ... *snore* (Three new Pet Shop's confirmed!)
2:09PM Riccitiello says we're going to see three sides of EA today:
1) Family
2) The Wii (?)
3) Quality
Looks like we're seeing some casual fare first with Hasbro.
2:07PM John Riccitiello has hit the stage and is taking his opportunity to shout of some folks from EA -- notably Rod Humble and Visceral Games executive producer Jonathan Knight. Sims 3 trailer time!
2:05PM Visceral Games' Dante's Inferno is up first, in CG form. Apparently Dante broke a promise to Beatrice? Ruh oh! (Game's coming Fall 2009.)
2:05PM Lights are dimming!
1:59PM "Make sure all your cell phones, BackBerries and iPhones are turned off." Um, no.
1:58PM The music's getting dark and mysterious ... while a slew of iPhone games pan across the massive screen. Images incoming! We promise!
1:56PM Ominous voice telling us locate the emergency exits (there it is behind us!) -- good to know!
1:52PM We just grabbed our seats inside the theater and we're watching an exciting montage of EA properties: Battlefield, Harry Potter, Spore, etc.
